[JamesRandom]

I'm getting a new laptop soon. And i'll want to scrub vista off it straight away. I have Windows XP service pack 2 in a zip file somewhere mounted on an image. I want to know once ive extracted the image, will I be able to just click on the .exe setup for XP and will it overwrite vista with no problems. I remember i did this when i had XP home and it worked ok, i overwrite home and put on pro.

Will it work?

[DaveA]

You will need a new license for this machine.

You will also need to get XP drivers and required software for all of the hardware that comes with this new machine.

[JamesRandom]

My copy of XP is genuine, i just extracted it from the CD and mounted it because I was having some problems with the DVD/CDRW at the time, so it turned out to be the easier option.
Can you recommend a place to get the drivers for everything I need?

[DaveA]

You can (if thay have made them) from the OEM of the computer.

[JamesRandom]

I'm not sure what an OEM is.

[DaveA]

OEM is like the brand name, Dell, Gateway, HP, Sony and etc!

Remember if you have used your Windows XP CD and key code on a another machine you will need to get a NEW key code for this machine.

[JamesRandom]

Okay

[Elvandil]

These will tell you about the hardware in your machine so you can find drivers for it all.

PCWizard
WinAudit
System Information for Windows (SIW)
Belarc Advisor
Mitec System Information

[JamesRandom]

Thanks for the help. I'm not against using Vista, I just think it requires a few more years of development. I know everyone swears by XP, but remember the trouble we all had when XP came out? This is no difference.

Also i heard some horror tale about there being some security feature whereby every mouse click you make is registered somwhere either on vista or at another location and that microsoft can review it any time they want.
What's that all about?

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by JamesRandom

I'm not sure what an OEM is.

Original Equipment Manufacturer.

Peace...

[DaveA]

"every mouse click you make is registered somewhere "
Anti-Microsoft people that do NOT know what they are talking about and trying to scare off new users of Vista.
It is just like Apple keeping track of what music you are playing of any brand name mp3 player.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by DaveA

"every mouse click you make is registered somewhere "
Anti-Microsoft people that do NOT know what they are talking about and trying to scare off new users of Vista.

'tis what we call FUD.

Peace...

[Elvandil]

It really depends what kind of "image" you have what you can do with it. But the general answer is "No" that there is no exe you can click that will overwrite Vista.

You'll need to format at best. XP will not recognize Vista, of course, because it is older. So there won't be any option to "upgrade" to XP.

Tell us more about this backup you made.

[JamesRandom]

I had the CD for XP professional on a machine that was running XP home, but at the time the CD/DVD drives were giving me alot of grief, so i used its one last good burn to rip the contents of the XPpro installation CD and then made an image which i stored on a second harddrive.
Then, once I had done that, all I had to do was click the setup.exe for XPpro and it began removing XPhome and installing XPpro automatically.
What you say about formatting first makes sense. But I couldn't see any reason why XP wouldn't just try to remove the current operating system no matter what compatibility it had before it installed itself.

[katabby]

Berfore getting rid of Vista, why don't you give it a spin around the dance floor.
It can be a bit unruley at times, but once you tame the beast you might actually like it.
I had vista for a couple of months before I would transfer all my stuff off my old xp computer, but now I prefer Vista.